A major project in Allen County that will turn two sections of a highly traveled road into roundabouts is underway.
On Thursday, the Ohio Department of Transportation kicked off their construction season. A variety of projects are currently in place to begin.
One major project will see Allen County have two new roundabouts installed at highly-traveled areas of State Route 309. Roundabouts will be installed at the Thayer and Napoleon Road intersections of State Route 309.
The $4.1 million project begins now and will last until November 2022. Construction, however, will not start until around June 1st of this year. During that time, traffic will be detoured for part of the project and lane restrictions will be in place for the remainder of the construction.
"Both roundabouts at State Route 309 and Thayer Road and State Route 309 and Napoleon Road will be under construction at the same time," said Chris Hughes, District Deputy Director at the Ohio Department of Transportation. "We are going to detour State Route 309 thru traffic, but still be open to local traffic, so they can still be able to get into their homes and businesses, but yeah, that will be closed around the first of June, we don't have an exact date yet, but it will be around that time."
Additional work along State Route 309 will take place for culvert replacements between Cool Road and Pevee Road. Traffic will also be detoured as crews work in the specified area.
Other Allen County projects include U.S 30 resurfacing, signal upgrades along State Routes 81, 117, and 309, and County Road 84 bridge replacement.
ODOT would also like to remind drivers to be aware of crews working on designated areas and to give proper spacing and follow road work directions.
"We really want to get the message out there that these people are out there to do their jobs, they want to go home at the end of the day and we're seeing way too many work zone crashes," said Hughes. "So just asking people to please be respectful of those individuals that are out there doing their jobs."
ODOT will also hold future events to help spread awareness of how roundabouts operate to help drivers.
